As a person who’s actually tentatively planning a cosplay this year for LFCC – and as a person in the atheist community who’s been honestly fucking apalled by how stupid the whole “sex discrimination regulation” things have been at TAM! and such – then I feel like this has to be said:

“Cosplay is NOT Consent aims to educate the community by using the experiences of cosplayers, and convention staff to help put an end to unwanted harassment of convention attendees. We will work with convention owners to help bring comfort and safety back to fan events all around the world. “

“I think what I want to say with my ramblings here is this: If you have a problem with the media reporting about western problems only and you seek a more balanced news platform, learn to internet. I heard good things about http://www.aljazeera.com/ although I can’t comment about it personally. Never trust a single source, use your brain and compare different opinions. If you are religious, pray for all the people who suffer in this world. If you want to donate, donate for the cause that needs it the most and not the one that is mentioned on TV.

Don’t be a dick about how in other countries people have been suffering more than in Boston right now. Suffering can’t be counted in numbers. It is always the same amount of bad.”

I will be spending my Wednesday hanging out with my, I quote, “spectacularly, indulgently liberal” friends and actually having a society. Living well is the best revenge, although giving her a privatised funeral comes a close second.

Amanda Palmer makes me want to have a twitter account, just so I can see what she’s doing.

After watching this video, I looked at my last post – Claire Anne Carr, who was and is giving away something awesome, on bandcamp, a site which allows you to give what you want to artists who make stuff you like.

I also found a new email from the Humble Indie Bundle: an organization that allows you to pay what you want for dozens of games. You can give them a pittance, but loads of people choose to pay hundreds of pounds.

I can think of any number of fully funded kickstarters, and things that I want to give money to.* SMBC’s new space opera, and Anita Serkeesian’s “Tropes Vs Women In Games”. Ryan North’s “To Be Or Not To Be” got funded in about 24 hours! Most of these ended up so overfunded they had to completely change their business plan: I’m looking at you, Double Fine.

These sites aren’t really ways for me to pay, or save money. These are ways for me to give what little I have. They are also some of my favourite places on the internet. I think Amanda Palmer may have a point…

***

It’s possible that over the next few years, these things will all die down. Bandcamp, kickstarter, humble bundle, etc may all become less extraordinary. Not even go bankrupt, but get replaced by a more regulated and easily monetised system. Economists of the future, I beg you not to do this. Lets keep the internet as it is for a bit.

Guys, guys, guys! Anyone here like “My Little Pony”?* I want to address this to the attentions of any and all bronies, fans of MLP, and/or fans of classic rock covers. Claire Ann Carr has a fantastic deal on at the moment, and as little as I like proselytizing for people to buy shit, if you like the things I mentioned above you’ll enjoy this.

Historians will see [Monday 1st of April] as the day that defines the Cameron government. An avalanche of benefit cuts will hit the same households over and over, with no official assessment of how far this £18bn reduction will send those who are already poor into beggary.

Shitting fucknuts!

If only I was a benefit fraud, or could find some other way of maintaining my income rather than asking our bloody useless government for money. Or anything. At all.

The other day my girlfriend jokingly asked: “Is it bad that I kinda want to play the new Tomb Raider game?” Which of course led to me gushing about how they were some of the first games I ever played, and about how much I love them.

“The developers tried to create a world without sexism (perhaps in response to the stigma associated with the series). That comes with problems of its own. But in doing so they also created a game that places agency in a woman’s hands.”

It even used the word “agency”, one of my favourite words ever. Fuck yeah!

Not that I really need The Border House’s consent to like a game, warts-or-lack-thereof and all. But it helps!

Combine that with the fact that Bioshock: Infinite came out this week, and is not only awesome, but has Elizabeth as a central character, and I’m feeling pretty good about gaming at the moment. I just wish I had a computer that could run anything beyond Portal.

Right, as I’m apparently now writing again, in more ways than one, I suppose I should talk a little about tomorrow/today. Tomorrow/today being the first day of Camp NaNoWriMo.

It is not “NaNoWriMo with more glitter and neckerchiefs”. It’s so much more than that…

Camp NaNo is a satellite event for NaNoWriMo – ie, so we can keep writing all year rather than just for a bit. It has a lot fewer rules, and is a lot more rough and ready – like a cage fight, in many ways.

Me; I’m setting myself a challenge – get the last few bits of the book I wrote last november into shape. I’ve been intermittently editing and tweaking and sometimes even writing it for the last few months, and I’m getting closer and closer. But I need to blitz it.

[Maybe a part of that should be writing on here again too…]

My part being on the way, then, I say to anyone out there who likes to write, join me. It’ll be fun! I hate to be the kind of blogger who solicits comments, but I’m going to make an exception now – tell me if you write. Tell me what you’re writing. Have you written even a single word today?

[I’ve been absent for the last few months, and if it weren’t for the fact that I’ve got at least 200 posts under my belt, I’d be worried that I’d achieved my second greatest fear: becoming this guy.

No apologies, though.]

Today – well, a few days ago – I got linked to this. For those of you who haven’t clicked through, it’s an article describing the opinions of many young people* at a rally to “protect traditional marriage”. Now, the ideas are obviously atrocious; this is plain for all to see. But why is it that none of them can spell or write? I mean, just look at this: Read the rest of this entry →